Monday, 29 November 2010

This little boy dressed as Santa is one of our new stamps that you can find online here. If you look closely you can see on the background is our new Fancy Snowflake embossed in Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder.

Saturday, 27 November 2010

This Fairy is from our newly arrived range of stamps and she can be found online here. The Happy Birthday is here but if you want the co-ordinating frame which is mounted on wood you will have to call us or visit the shop.

Friday, 26 November 2010

According to our local paper the new A421 from M1 Junction 13 to Bedford will be opening on Wednesday 1st December - this should make the journey to us from Milton Keynes so much easier and quicker (and obviously vice versa should I need to do a bit of Christmas shopping at The Centre MK).

Fingers crossed that it all goes according to plan because it is perfect timing for Wacky Wednesday, late night shopping and our Project Club as these are all taking place on Wednesday 1st December.

So if you would like to test out the brand new A421 we are open on Wednesday 1st December 10am-9pm

Tuesday, 23 November 2010

This is one of the Stamps Unlimited Train stamps that we now have in store (remember 20% off if you purchase before the end of Saturday - on all Stamps Unlimited and Rubber Stamp Craft wood mounted stamps).

Lesley coloured both these images with Distress inks. The detail on these stamps is amazing.

Friday, 19 November 2010

In store this week we took a huge delivery of stamps from Impressions Picture Stamps and Rubber Stamp Craft - to celebrate we are offering 20% off all of these wood mounted stamps until Saturday 27th November - these are only available in store.But we have made some of them into unmounted designs which you can buy online (sorry no discount).

Sunday, 14 November 2010

Lesley hosts a Coffee Morning every Tuesday 10.30am-2pm where you can come along and see what she is creating and have a go yourself or just pick up some useful tips. You can also swap ATCs with Lesley.

Wednesday, 10 November 2010

This is another stamp just added to our Special Offers Section. This is JudiKins 2999H Ornament Border which has been reduced to £5.99 plus JudiKins 2704E Retro Merry Christmas reduced to £3.99, while stocks last.

It has been stamped using Blending Blox and highlighted with the Marvy Xtra Fine Silver Metallic pen, which was also used to create a border.

Tuesday, 9 November 2010

We have now added a selection of overstocked Christmas Stamps to our Special Offers section. This is the JudiKins 3359G Happy Christmas stamp which is currently reduced to only £4.99, while stocks last.The Happy Christmas has been embossed with Red Embossing Powder onto vellum, the Funky Xmas Pattern is in the background.

Sunday, 7 November 2010

Well it's my final day in The Purple Zone. Thanks for joining me. I hope I've given you a few ideas for those last minute Christmas cards. Here's a simple card to finish: Using the Scor-It board I've made a gatefold card and covered it with two embossed panels on the front. The 'dear' little chap was stamped directly onto reindeer coloured cardstock with just his nose and bow coloured with a Tombow pen. He was cut out and layered onto two scalloped oval punched shapes.

Bye for now. Normal service will resume on Monday with the return of Sarah.

Saturday, 6 November 2010

Oooh I've got a day off today. Jo will be in the shop so do go and say hello if you're in the area.I've got four more cards to show you all coloured once again with Lyra Polycolours. I do love colouring in don't you?

In this first card I'm showcasing my absolute favourite Christmas motif, the gingerbread man. I have been collecting gingerbread men stamps for years and this is probably my favourite. The three little gingerbreads are layered over a background stamped with the parcel/holly/candy cane trio. I've also incorporated a border stamp which I use a lot to divide the card into different areas. Printworks produce many border stamps and I find them very useful. As said in Little Women, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without any presents. This card features some very funky Christmas gifts. They are available on a wood mounted stamp or an unmounted set. Recognise that colour combo? Hmm. However, it looks just as good in sepia tones on cream card.

The final cards feature the little Printworks babies encased in the JudiKins Snowglobe.

Back tomorrow for the final time with a little reindeer. Right, time for some housework.

Friday, 5 November 2010

We're turning on the twinkle today with the Printwork Wheelbarrow decorated with fairy lights. I've hand drawn the string using the infamous Zig Millenium pen and stamped the lights at random. Nestling inside is my favourite Frazzled Cat guarding all the presents. This took a bit of maksing with Eclipse tape but I thinkg it was worth it. The Santa Hat has been stamped separately and attached to Frazzled Cat. Now for a traditional red and green theme. I've used all these great Stamps by Judith sticks and stubbies to fill the wheelbarrow with Christmas greenery. The DeNami Merry Christmas has been stamped on cream card and then punched out using a 2.5" punch. This has been decorated with the SBJ Holly stubby and hand drawn berries.

Everything has been coloured in using Lyra Polycolours. If you haven't tried these yet give them a go. They are artist quality coloured pencils which will lay down a really intense pigment. Available in sets or single colours.

Thursday, 4 November 2010

I knew it wouldn't get too far into this blogging session without introducing the colour turquoise. It's my favourite go to colour whatever the season. I keep trying to wean myself off it to no avail. I particularly like it partnered with greed and red. If you haven't used this combo before give it a whirl. By the way I'd love to know what your favourite colour combinations are.This first snowman is so cute, all muffled up against the cold. He has been coloured with alcohol-based markers and then layered onto white, turquoise and red card all using a spellbinders die set. I do like to use these die cut shapes for layering, it makes the finished card more interesting.

A similar colour combination was used for this next card. The snowman's body was cut using punches. My most used crafting tools are 2.5" and 3" scallop circle punches. They are always on my crafting table. I just find them a bit quicker to use compared to getting out the cuttlebug mats, dies, etc. By the way the Snowman's gloves have been attached using twisted copper wire. Everything was coloured with Tombow brush markers.

This last card will please Sarah as purple is her favourite colour. A giant winter moon was punched from glitter paper and laid over a purple base card. The snow hill was hand cut and the snowman layered over the top with foam pads.

Join me tomorrow when I'll show you how you can turn the Printworks Wheelbarrow that you've been harbouing in your craft drawer all summer into something Christmassy.

Wednesday, 3 November 2010

Hello everyone, Lesley here. I've hijacked Sarah's blog for the next few days whilst the Stamp Addicts team are at the NEC. Do pay them a visit if you can and check out Vicky's fabulous mobile. No not a phone, I mean a hanging mobile made from the Pear stencil.

You can purchase the Pear stencil at the show. Don't forget to take your key fob if you are a Stamp Addicts Member.

I thought I'd show you a few Christmas card ideas using stamps from one of my favourite companies, Printworks.

The first one uses a cute Snowman coloured with alchol-based markers, layered onto a Nellie Snellen die cut. I love this die set. It's a little different from the usual scallop dies without being too fancy.

The base card has been embossed with a cuttlebug embossing folder. We have some really nice Christmas ones to choose from in store.

The second card features a Poinsettia which has been stamped twice onto a card scrap and coloured with distress reinkers (Barn door, worn lipstick and curshed olive) and a waterbrush.I like using the re-inkers in this way and also to make my own customer multi-colour inkpads. This is what I have used to stamp the leafy flourish.Simply cut a square of cut n dry felt (not foam) and drip the re-inkers on to it in a random fashion. Store in a zip-loc bag and it will stay wet for months.You can see another example of this technique being used on my card in the Best of British supplement included with this month's Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine.

I hope you can join me on The Purple Zone again tomorrow when I will show you some more of Printwork's snowmen.

Tuesday, 2 November 2010

Tomorrow we are off to the NEC Hobbycrafts show, we spend all day Wednesday building the stand ready for the doors to open on Thursday. If you are planning to come to the show I would recommend Friday as this is usually the quietest day, but wear your comfy shoes as there is lots to see - make sure you come and see us at the show as we will have some great bargains for you.

Whilst I am away I know Lesley has plans to hijack my blog so please come back and take a look each day. I've had a sneaky peak at some of the artwork she is going to share with you and it is totally fabulous so you will be spoilt rotten with inspiration during my absence.

Apologies for the lack of artwork over the last few days. I've had Judi & Rob of JudiKins staying with me and we have been very busy working on new stamps as well as attending the Suffolk PaperCraft Show, so I've had very little online time. But we are very pleased with what we've come up with and should be able to share them with you in a couple of weeks.